Andy Duncan has been busy attempting to secure the future funding of Channel 4 while at the same time amassing a small fortune for himself.

The Channel 4 chief executive looks to have won his argument for public money to help fill the estimated shortfall of £150m the broadcaster faces in the years ahead.

Andy Duncan. Photograph: Martin Godwin
Exactly where the cash will come from remains to be seen, with the BBC mounting a strong rearguard action against the proposal to "top-slice" the licence fee.

Duncan's argument was helped by a good year for the broadcaster, including eight Bafta TV awards and its well-received "Next on 4" strategy outlining its creative future in a digital age.

Even better, there was no race row on Celebrity Big Brother. In fact, there was no Celebrity Big Brother at all.

Duncan was royally rewarded for all his hard work with a salary of £1.21m including a £450,000 loyalty bonus. This at a time when the cash-strapped broadcaster was pleading for public money and saw its main channel make a loss for the first time since 1992.

But Duncan has got more right than wrong over the past 12 months, hence his rise back up this year's MediaGuardian 100.

"It's all about the vision thing," said our panel. "He put the request for public money quite well, and the channel has had a much better year politically, certainly better than the BBC. His salary hasn't helped though."

It was a different story this time last year, when the channel was reeling from the fallout from Celebrity Big Brother and severely criticised by Ofcom. The media regulator called on the channel to overhaul its remit to remain true to its public service principles. In short, Channel 4 looked in danger of losing the plot.

Duncan became Channel 4 chief executive four years ago. The former BBC marketing chief made his name on the back of the spectacular launch of Freeview. He was previously a senior marketing executive at Unilever, where he was responsible for brands including Flora, PG Tips and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.

While Channel 4 slipped into the red last year, growth in advertising revenues and a better financial performance by its digital channels, including E4 and More4, helped it to an an overall pre-tax surplus of £1.6m in 2007, against £21.3m the previous year.

The financial performance was reflected in the ratings - audiences for the core Channel 4 service fell 11% in 2007 - but audiences were up for E4, More4 and Film4.

The broadcaster was due to launch its first national digital radio stations later this year, including a spoken word competitor to BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 Radio.

But doubts over digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio have thrown the timing and the content of the launch into doubt. At a time when Channel 4 faces a £150m funding shortfall, how much is there left in the kitty for radio?

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